Life’s a symphony for Albert Hammond

Camera IconFor his latest album, Albert Hammond re-recorded some of his biggest hits at Abbey Road.Picture: David von Becker,

Even if you don’t know Albert Hammond, you know his songs.

Starship’s 80s power ballad Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now? He wrote that with Dianne Warren.

Leo Sayer’s mushy When I Need You? Another co-write, with Carole Bayer Sager.

To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before, the Willie Nelson duet which launched the English language career of Julio Iglesias? Yep, Hammond and wordsmith Hal David.

The Hollies’ timeless The Air That I Breathe? Another Hammond gem.

The greatest voices of popular music, including Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash, have sung lyrics or melodies created by the London-born, Gibraltar-raised performer.

Despite boasting five decades of hits, Hammond — now 73, and still touring extensively — doesn’t mind that most music lovers won’t join the dots.

“Some people say to me ‘Aren’t you jealous that you didn’t do it and have the hit with it’,” he says from a swish hotel on Lake Constance, Switzerland, midway through a European tour playing with his band and orchestra.

“Why would I be? These are incredible singers and I’m proud that they chose my songs to record and make them hits.

“It doesn’t matter, I don’t mind,” Hammond adds. “I just feel good that they loved the songs and that they bring them memories.

“Some people say to me ‘I got married with your song’ or ‘I fell in love to your song’ — it’s just a wonderful, wonderful feeling.”

Thirteen Hammond compositions feature on In Symphony, an album recorded in five days at Abbey Road studio with acclaimed US producer/arranger Rob Mathes (Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Carly Simon) plus an orchestra and choir.

“It was done live, you know, and we cut each song twice and didn’t go any further,” Hammond says. “The passion was in those two takes. After that it would’ve been repeating yourself rather than feeling it.”

Alongside his first solo hit, 1972’s It Never Rains in Southern California, and Don’t Turn Around — a B-side for Tina Turner, and later a chart-buster for Swedish pop group Ace of Base — In Symphony features Mexican classical tune, Estrellita.

Hammond says that his uncle recorded him singing the song as an eight-year-old choirboy, pressed it as a 78 record and sold it in Gibraltar.

“I kept it for I don’t know what reason ... now we’re recording it.”

The new album doesn’t include his first hit, Leapy Lee’s 1968 single Little Arrows.

Like most songwriters, Hammond doesn’t have a favourite song.

“I almost feel like my songs are my children,” says the father of Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. “I love them all. Some do better than others, you know, but ... they all have their own little magic.”

He says he doesn’t have a formula for writing songs and rarely writes with a singer in mind.

An exception was when he wrote a song to represent the US at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

“The first person who came to mind was Elvis, he would be the iconic artist to represent America,” Hammond explains.

The songwriter got a “huge surprise” when Arista Records president Clive Davis sent him the recording of Whitney Houston singing One Moment in Time.

“It was so great,” he says. “I played it 10 times and I cried every time.”

Asked whether he’s heard any versions of his songs that make him cringe, Hammond won’t name any names — except his own.

He points out The Air That I Breathe which was relegated to the final track on his debut album It Never Rains in Southern California.

While the Everly Brothers recorded it in 1973, the soft-rock classic became a huge hit thanks to the Hollies’ 1974 version.

Olivia Newton-John, k.d. lang and Barry Manilow are among the many artists to cover the tune, which also bore enough similarities to Radiohead’s Creep that Thom Yorke reportedly has to share royalties.

Hammond says that The Air That I Breathe was inspired a woman who helped him when he arrived in Los Angeles with only £50, no work permit, no car and nowhere to stay.

“She was not that pretty, she didn’t have a great body but she had a heart of gold,” he says. “She gave me a place to stay and said I could use her convertible to see (music) publishers ... she helped me out so much.

“I tried to find her later but haven’t been able to. I don’t know if she’s alive or gone. I just want to tell her ‘Thank you very much’.”

While he still has a house in LA, home is a hotel room. “I do about 140 concerts a year.”

He is working on a musical due to open next year about Edward Whymper, who in 1865 became the first person to climb to the top of the Matterhorn.

“It’s man against nature,” Hammond says of finding inspiration for songs about a mountain. “It was a challenge, and I love challenges.

“My life is very exciting and busy at 73 years of age,” Hammond says.

“I do go to Gibraltar quite often ” he adds, “because I’m from there and my mother is still alive at 98. I speak to her every day and she’s my inspiration. She says ‘Never give up on life, life is beautiful’.”